GPA calculators for Indian Percentage to GPA conversion: A How to guide

In India, the majority of the institutions use either percentage or grade as a method of assessment. A few premier institutions like IITs, NITs have their own grading system. Students applying to universities outside India would be familiar with the GPA scale. In this post, MBA Crystal Ball provides some perspectives on the GPA scale and its implications for an Indian student planning to study abroad.

GPA or Grade point average can be calculated on a 4-point, 7-point or 10-point scale. U.S. universities usually adopt a 4- point GPA scale. Guidelines for conversion including GPA calculators are usually provided on the concerned university website so students need not stress themselves out on how to handle this aspect.

How to convert Grades to GPA

One method of calculating your GPA as followed by the University of Chicago Booth School Of Business is demonstrated below. Each of the grades are assigned grade points.

Grade

Grade Points

A+

4.33

A

4.00

A-

3.67

B+

3.33

B

3.00

B-

2.67

C+

2.33

C

2.00

C-

1.67

D+

1.33

D

1.00

Here the method used is to multiply the grade points with the number of subjects corresponding to the grades or number of courses in which the grades are obtained. Add up the total and divide it by the number of subjects or courses taken to calculate your GPA. Or just enter the values in the table on the University website and you get your GPA.

Another method of calculating GPA is to take into account credit hours, multiply each grade point with the corresponding credit hours for each subject taken, add it all to calculate the grand total for all the subjects and divide it by the total credit hours.

How to convert Indian Percentage to GPA

An illustrative list of percentage and the corresponding grades is given below:

Percentage

Grade

90-100

A+

85-89

A

80-84

A-

77-79

B+

73-76

B

70-72

B-

67-69

C+

63-66

C

60-62

C-

55-59

D+

50-54

D

0-49

F

It may be noted that even within India, the various IITs, NITs follow various grading systems-for example IIT Kanpur calculates CPI (Cumulative Performance Index), in IIT Bombay, grades are on a scale of 10. An article published by a leading Indian newspaper points out the problem caused by these varying grading system which tend to be confusing for recruiters to assess.

Now for some Q & A:

How do I convert my Indian percentage received from an Indian University to a 4-point GPA scale?

The good news is that majority of the U.S. schools don’t expect you to convert your Indian percentage / score on a GPA scale. Instead, many of the business schools mention on their website that applicants need to mention their score as obtained from the institution attended rather than attempting to convert it to a 4-point GPA scale. Since the admissions committees receive applications from multiple nationalities, they are well-versed with the various marking/grading scales.

Some countries may follow a more lenient approach towards marking whereas others tend to be stricter. So if we try to make conversions using a standard formula, it may not do justice to an international candidate.

But the university I’m applying to expects me to convert my score to a 4-point GPA scale?

If a school expects the students to convert their score, they would provide information on how they expect this to be done.

Another place for calculating your GPA if you don’t wish to take upon yourself the responsibility of calculating your GPA is through WES (World Education Services) website where this facility is provided at a small charge.

Even if you use WES services to calculate your GPA, though you’ll get your scores converted, it may not turn out to be a number you may be too excited about. This is because the average percentage in India turns out to be less than 70% which when converted would round off to around 2.7 which tends to be low when compared to American standards. So even if you’re a brilliant student competing with an average international candidate, your GPA might be lower than him/her.

Disclaimer:This post by MBA Crystal Ball is for information only and there may be many alternative approaches recommended by other sites. Do NOT use any of these methods blindly to convert your percentage into a GPA. Be aware of the limitations of each method.

The best option is to leave the Indian university percentage as it is. Most top MBA school Adcoms know how to interpret Indian academic performance scores (like percentages) and compare it to those received from other countries. Rather than breaking your head on a single parameter, focus on the bigger picture and give the bschool reasons beyond the GPA to shortlist you for the MBA interview. Work on submitting solid MBA essays that present a coherent storyline and practical goals.

Also check out the success stories of how many MBA applicants overcame constraints related to GPA, low GMAT scores and tough competition to get substantial (including 100%) funding –> Study abroad scholarships for Indian students.

35 Comments

Hey, while applying for CAT, it asks me to write down my college grade in terms of percentage. I studied in the U.S, and my college awarded me score only in terms of GPA. My GPA is 3.61. How should I convert this to percentage?

Ramachandra: If they haven’t provided guidelines for conversion, you have two options:
– Check with them before filling the form
– Fill up your percentage number and mention something like – “Univ uses percentage grading instead of GPA “.

Bottomline is, if the rest of your resume is impressive, they won’t penalise you attending a university that uses percentages instead of GPA.

Within India, would the conversion of percentage to GPA be affected by the university one has graduated from? I mean would a 65% from Mumbai university convert to same GPA as 65% from, lets say, Bangalore university?

@Ashish: Reverse problem for you! Unlike in the business school applications where this number is very important, I’d guess that for government jobs it’s just another piece of data along with a lot of other information that they want to know. Check with someone working in that company to see if they have some suggestions.

@Bhushan: A 65% from Mumbai university is not the same as from another university. Which is why a generic GPA conversion formula doesn’t help. Best to leave it in the original format and allow the bschool representatives to interpret it based on their experience and database.

I am from Indian Institute of Science and when I converted my score of 6.6/8.0 in WES (through the small fee option which is mentioned in this blog earlier), my score is 4.0 on 4.0. Now I am confused. How can I report this score for US universities which are asking for a 4.0 scale.

Hi Sameer,
I belong to the Mumbai University and I have done my engineering from the top engg college in Mumbai in Computers. I have a fluctating engg % which varied from 65 to 73. In my final year I have a overall % of 72. I was wonderig what would my GPA be?Does a college matter when you apply for MBA in the US?

The universities in US are also aware of the fact that some Universities its easier to score than others.

I am a UPTU 2004 passout and can tell you that my score of 67 pc was considered equivalent to a person from a south indian university getting 85 or something. Primarily due to the fact that pass percentage and max percentage, also statistical mean median max et al were favorable in case of that university.
my score was considered 3.6 on 4 gpa and roughly a shade better compared to the other uni where it was easy to score.

My cpga is 6.85/10 and. I saw the GMAC registration page where no conversion from 10 point cgpa to 4 point gpa is given, but from 100 point scale to 4 point scale is given. Can u please let me know if I am eligible to give GMAT exam, as soon as possible i need to register for it. ?
thanks

Respected sir
i am at present attending a course for mba entrance exam after completing my b.tech with a CGPA and CPI of 5.6 on a scale of 10. As per our university rule they both are the same. some of my friends and neighbors are saying that it is really hard for me to get an admission in a good college even though if i had nice percentile in the entrance exam. Please help/advice me sir.

Hi, i’m regestering for GMAT on mba.com and need to submit GPA.
I completed my undergraduation with 62% from Kanpur university . i’ve just 10% less than university topper, but while registering for GMAT ,according to their conversion scale given, my GPA comes out to be 1.9. it sounds very low on the GPA-percentage scale that they have given..
However, I got my GPA calculated by WES (World Education Services), which came out to be 3.5
Even if i leave the option blank, GMAT again asks for the GPA on the test day after the completion of the test. What should i do now and then?

Dear Sir,
pls help…i need to complete the registration but i’m stuck at this

I M DOING MY UG FRM ALLAHABAD UNIVERSITY…IN FRST YR. I SECURED 61% MARKS BCOZ WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH ANNUAL EXAM PATTERN …I M PLANNING FOR HBS …SO DO I HAVE A GOOD GPA FOR FOR HBS OR I HAVE TO SECURE MORE MARKS FOR A GOOD GPA…
NEED UR COMMNTS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE…

Hi. Thanks for the valuable information. I have done PGDBA from SCDL,Pune and then MBA_LE(i.e. direct admission to 2nd year) from PTU through distance learning. My PGDBA % is 73.75 % and MBA_LE 4rd sem is 70% and 4th sem % is 76.71%. PTU has not mentioned any grading scheme on the marksheets. Hot to find out the grade points to apply in New Zealand university.Thanks

Hi Sameer!
I was wondering if you could help me out with a basic doubt. Pune University awards degree based on final year marks. So can I use this to calculate gpa or should I use the aggregate of four years to do this?
Thanks

My percentage is 72 BIT bangalore which is affiliated to Vishwesvarya technological university Belgaum. Could u plz tell my equivalent GPA in 4.0 scale. JUST for a note its difficult to score in non automous colleges like mine compared to an autonomous college..

When I convert on link you shared (https://www.wes.org/calculator/igpa.asp ). It comes decent but when compared with MBA.com conversion which clearly shows below 80 is very poor so can you please tell while applying for gmat test what to fill I mean to say which score conversion should I choose ?
same question as Tushar